The Grand Experiment Day 1

Well, it just wasn't practical to start last week so we held out until last night to officially kick off the Gluten Free Experiment. So far it's gone a little something like this-

Sunday Dinner- Homemade pizza. Raging success. It was my 3rd attempt at a GF crust. The first one had good flavor but the texture of soggy cardboard. So I tweaked a little to arrive at crust #2, again, good flavor, slightly improved texture but still a bit too chewy for my tastes. Last night tweaked a little harder and DING DING DING we had a winner. Good, consistent texture, good flavor. I may add a dash of salt next time but otherwise, it's good enough to run with. Recipe goes a lil' something like this:

1 c warm water
1 pkt (2 1/4 t) yeast
1 t sugar
1 1/2 t olive oil
1/2 c white rice flour
1/4 c sorghum flour
1/4 c potato starch
1 1/2 t xanthum gum
2-3 cloves crushed garlic

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in 1/2 c of water and let sit about 10 minutes until the mixture is nice and bubbly. Add the rest of the water, oil and garlic and give it a mix. Combine the dry ingredients then mix into the wet. Press it all out on a pizza stone- keep your fingers plenty wet for this part, then let it rest for 10-15 minutes while the oven preheats to 450. Bake for 15 minutes then remove from the oven, brush the crust with olive oil, top with ingredients of your choice and return to the oven for another 10-12 minutes. YUM YUM!

Breakfast this morning- Pancakes. On the dr's recommendation I tried Pamela's Products pancake mix and I gotta tell you, they aren't just too bad. Texture's a little grittier than I am used to in pancakes but the flavor is great. I think I'll try the waffles one of these mornings. I'm also going to attempt to make Rich's favorite cookies using the Pamela's mix to replace the flour. We'll see how that goes tonight.

Lunch- Miserable failure. I bought some GF wraps at the grocery store this weekend. Wasn't hugely confident from the start but it's an experiment, right? So I made myself a wrap and one for Rich. lil' cream cheese, lil' meat, lil' lettuce, etc... Had the first half of mine around 11. I will not be returning for the 2nd half. First problem was the wrap got SLIMY on the outside. I admit texture issues when it comes to food and slimy is not good... But the weird thing was it was only surface slime. Apparently the wrap is created with some sort of impenetrable barrier to the insides which remained dry and mealy... UGH! Will be interesting to see what Rich has to say about his wrap tonight. I'm not expecting good things... I think I'll make tuna salad with rice noodles for tomorrow!

Dinner tonight should be a good recovery. Italian sausage with peppers and onions, penne (rice pasta of course) and marinara baked with a bit of mozzarella for good measure. YUM!!!